Advice on Shooters

Does anyone here remember the arcade shooter Sinistar? That was my fave all time shooter. You went around shooting the bad guys, trying to prevent them from making this big space face that would then come and shoot fireballs out fo its mouth at you shouting "I live" and stuff like that.

I really liked the controls and physics, your ship faced whatever direction you pushed the joystick and quickly accelerated to the top speed, you could only fire your primary blaster forward, but had a limited number of homing missiles. It was really fast paced and tons of fun.

I have another game idea based on the controls and physics of Sinistar, but I'd also like to make a shooter like that as well.

Quote:Originally posted by GoodDoug Does anyone here remember the arcade shooter Sinistar? That was my fave all time shooter. You went around shooting the bad guys, trying to prevent them from making this big space face that would then come and shoot fireballs out fo its mouth at you shouting "I live" and stuff like that.

yeah that voice was freaky. "Beware - I LIVE" Sinistar was the kind of game (like Defender) where if you really didnt know what you were doing - 30 seconds after putting your quarter in it was 'Game Over'.

The thing I didnt like about Sinistar (and Time Pilot) were the controls. Your ship rotated - but you controlled it with a joystick. If you remake a sinistar-like game - please fix the controls!

Quote:Originally posted by codemattic yeah that voice was freaky. "Beware - I LIVE" Sinistar was the kind of game (like Defender) where if you really didnt know what you were doing - 30 seconds after putting your quarter in it was 'Game Over'.

The thing I didnt like about Sinistar (and Time Pilot) were the controls. Your ship rotated - but you controlled it with a joystick. If you remake a sinistar-like game - please fix the controls!

cheers,
Codemattic

HAHA! I liked the controls in Sinistar! Must be a personal preference thing, which is good to know ("What? not everyone thinks exactly like me? What kind of world is this?")

As a rule I always found shooters to be frustrating and annoying, but there have been a few remarkable exceptions. I loved the Time Pilot 1984 game (I think that's the right year) -- it was free movement instead of the steady scroll, which annoys me generally. However I played an Amiga upward scroller called Hybris intensely. I beat the game maybe twice. Finally, I remember enjoying Defender a lot, like Time Pilot because you had more control of your ship, and the teleport gates were cool. Plus you had to save people.

I like really smooth animation, a good basic laser gun that you could possibly almost win with if you were really good, and lots of power-ups because nobody is actually that good ó unless they're freaks. But there has to be some original concept and game mechanics.

Are you guys only talking about space shooters? Because I always wanted to see a nice platorfomer that was like the old NES/SNES/GB Metroids come to the Mac. The two things Mac gaming lacks in are platformers and sports games, IMHO.

Quote:Originally posted by GoodDoug What do you all think of primary and secondary fire? I kinda like the unlimited primary fire, limited secondary fire (ie blasters and missiles of Zed Nought) where you need a powerup to get any secondary fire weapons... it adds a little strategy to the game.

Well here is my limit. You have movement, firing, and one extra control. It could be an alternative 'powered up' weapon, or a shield, or a smartbomb, or whatever...

I like for your character/ship/whatever to be customizable. I want choices as to which weapons I get. I do not like games where a lot of how high of a score you can get depends just on how lucky you get with your powerups. This may be a little outside the 2D shooter genre, but Asterax is one of my favorite games. An Asteroids game, you collected crystals that came out of the asteroids, and at the end of the level you would enter a store where you could buy upgrades and extras. Very fun!

I have some ideas about making weapons a little more interesting. If anyone has played Pax Imperia, you could build your own classes of ships by putting technologies in slots in the ship's body. Something similar to this in a 2D shooter would be interesting, but now that I think about it this would just end up being like a Diablo type game. I would like to play a shooter that put in elements of strategy though. Not so much as strategic tactics when you are blasting everything, but equipping your ship.